Exploration
by MagicAlpha
Summary: Life isn't always a bright place. But mammals around the globe have, luckily, received the blessing of a virtual reality where they can escape to whenever they need to. (A peak at some of the mammals in Zootopia as they explore the vast world of the Oasis.)
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: Hey there, everybody! Welcome back to another writerly ****brainchild of mine. Ready Player One was absolutely awesome, and so was Zootopia. And thinking that exact thought, I said to myself, "Why not put the two of those things together?"**

**And that was how this story came to life. I also remember reading somewhere that there's supposedly some Zootopia cameos hidden within Ready Player One, and that made me want to sit down and write this story even more. **

**Anyway, I hope y'all enjoy this silly story of mine. ****As always, let me know what your thoughts were on this. Your thoughts, good and bad, are always gladly appreciated.**

**Enjoy! :)**

* * *

The eventual decline in things around the city was always prognosticated, but it all started to happen when no one was truly anticipating it. What had been almost idealistic had gradually become stricken by a growing number of mammals that were either experiencing poverty or homeless altogether. There had been an additional state of worry regarding energy sources, but that, thankfully, received partial resolution by the inclusion of enough solar panels to help power the city and its surrounding districts.

But in the midst of the darker moments that life currently threw at the world, there existed a possible way to escape all of the frustrations, even if it was only for a few measly minutes. And it went by the name of the OASIS.

Practically everyone and their mother was already familiar with its existence and its function, and the fox, who stood in the sunlight that was shimmering through the dark curtains, was no exception. For him and everybody else that was aware of it, an expansive virtual reality was never too far away.

Letting out a deep sigh, he made his way over to a plainly-colored couch that sat in the corner of the living room. He was already donning the haptic suit that allowed him to feel everything he would possibly experience in this virtual world, and all that was left for him to put on was his goggles.

One couch cushion away sat his bunny companion, Judy, who was currently putting on her leporine-sized goggles over her eyes.

"Still can't believe that hint someone posted on that message board was a dud," the rabbit said to the fox. "And to think I thought we were getting close to finding the next key."

"I can believe it, Carrots," Nick replied. "He either misinterpreted the clue or was intentionally givin' us false info to throw all of the gunters off. We _are_ all competing for chance to become the owners of a virtual world, after all."

Judy nodded. "Just remember," she said. "If we both manage to find out wherever this thing is, we get that huge house we always looked at with the money that comes with winning."

The vulpine grinned. "Agreed. We just gotta keep our eyes on the prize." He then slipped the goggles over his eyes. "Time to win us ownership of this joint," he muttered to himself.

As the haptics completely covered his vision of the living room, he had been directed to utter his passphrase in order to verify it was him logging in.

"It's called a hustle, sweetheart," he said.

_Verification Successful_, were the words he was met with before he ended up being swept away from his surroundings and into the wide world of the OASIS.

* * *

His avatar took shape in an instant, and he found himself standing in the midst of what looked like a gigantic old-school arcade. The walls around him were painted in a dark color, and neon lights illuminated the area. Clang and clamor filled his ears, coming from all of the different games, most of them old school, that occupied the room. Pinball machines dinging, blipping noises, electronic buzzers, and cartoonish gunfire were only a few of the different sounds coming from inside of this spot, unequally colliding with some synth-based techno music coming from some nearby speakers.

He remembered where he was rather quickly. This had been the last location he and Judy had searched before they logged out last. The avatar that belonged to the gray bunny had materialized to his left not even ten seconds later, dressed in a blue qipao with touches of gold and large spiked bracelets on her wrists.

Nick glimpsed down at the outfit that his avatar was currently wearing, What he had on was green clothing that made him look as if he had stepped straight out of a medieval timeline. This had been one of the outfits he had purchased before. The outfit that was worn by his childhood hero, Robin Hood.

While it was possible to become any mammal of one's choosing when creating an OASIS account, he chose to remain a fox by default. Like a good majority of other players, his avatar's species was the same that it was in the real world, with a few different changes in appearance made. Despite all of the different possibilities when it came to customization, he didn't bother with them. He wanted his avatar to look more like his actual self. So even though the system made it possible for him to have a pair of angel wings or multiple tails, it wasn't something he was really that interested in.

His avatar name—WildeAnimal—flashed in the corner of vision for abided moment, followed by the message that welcomed him back to the OASIS. He grinned at the pun he had used in said name. Prior to that it was originally DevourerOfBlueberries—the name derived from his undying love for that kind of fruit—but it quickly died off, leading him to change it to what it was now.

"Okay," he breathed with determination. He looked over at Judy, who was now staring back at him. "What do ya say we do now, Fluff?"

"Before we go anywhere, we better rethink the clue again," the rabbit suggested. "I looked over the second line, and I'm getting a hunch that it's pertaining to that-"

"Hey," a male voice remarked, pausing the lagomorph's thoughts.

Nick and Judy both paused and turned their heads to see another figure walking up towards where they stood in the gigantic expanse of arcade machines. Who they saw was a striped jackrabbit wearing a suit made him look like he was in some sort of spy movie.

"Jack," Nick greeted. "Or should I say, Agent Savage?"

The buck responded with a small nod of his head. Agent Savage was the username he had given himself when he first joined the OASIS, and most referred to him as such. Pointing to the outfit on the fox's avatar, he remarked, "Borrowing from the rich that can afford to lose, I see."

In an imitated accent, the vulpine responded, "Aye, lad. And 'tis good to run into another fellow gunter along the way."

"Anyway," the striped rabbit said, "did either of you two happen to see an arctic vixen walking around these parts?"

"We just logged in not too long ago," Judy answered, "so I'm afraid not."

Nick looked over at Jack and grinned widely. "Is it possible that you're looking for that mysterious 'Skye' you've talking about for awhile now? Admit it, you got a crush on her."

"W-What?" the buck hesitated. "I-I was just wondering if she-"

"The love bug's a lot stronger than you want to believe it is," the fox interrupted. "Not even mammal in the OASIS are immune to it."

Jack sighed and looked back up at Nick, unwilling to bluntly admit to the fact that he was truly developing a crush for this arctic vixen that they were speaking about. "I better be on my way now," was the last thing he told the two before he strolled off elsewhere.

As he walked in a somewhat-hurried fashion, near found himself bumping into a raccoon, taller than he would have seen in the real world, in a blue elbow-sleeved shirt and matching gloves.

For a brief moment, Nick remained completely silent. His mind slowly returning to what he was originally focused on deciphering, he looked back over at Judy. "Now then, Carrots," he said, "tell me what you're were sayin' about a hint you got after re-reading that clue."

* * *

_**Elsewhere in the OASIS...**_

Right when he mentally told himself that she wasn't here and went to turn back, Jack felt a claw tap him on the shoulder. When he turned around to face who had did that, he saw the arctic vixen that he had looking for standing right behind him, dressed in a crop top and vintage jean shorts.

"Hey," she greeted with a smooth tone of voice.

"H-Hi," Jack said back with a bit of hesitation. As he looked at her icy blue eyes, he was pretty certain that he was blushing underneath the haptic goggles he had on in reality. "It's pretty funny running into you. I was looking for you."

"This is one of my favorite spots to come and hang out," Skye replied. "Oh, and I wanted to tell you something."

"What's that?"

"I think I figured out where the clues said to go."

"Really?" Jack answered, now curious to know more about what the vixen figured out regarding the location of the next key.

* * *

_**Meanwhile, back in Zootopia...**_

Up until this very moment in time, he could not recall a moment in this life where he was more in a rush to do something.

In the midst of the afternoon nap he had woken up from, Wolford had a dream regarding the possible location of what he needed to find next in the OASIS. It might have been considered a tad problematic that the virtual reality was now occupying his dream, but to him that showed just how focused he was on uncovering the mystery.

Emerging from the other room, the timber wolf ran in and quickly searched for where he had left both his haptic gloves and goggles last. After figuring out that he had left them on the nearby coffee table, he quickly put them on and sat upright in the nearby chair.

He let out a howl, both out of utter enthusiasm and because that had been what he configured as his passphrase, and it filled the noiseless space. The very instant he got logged in, he planned to visit Fangmeyer's chat room and see if they could both talk about the idea he had received.

* * *

The moment that he selected it, his avatar had quickly transported to the chat room that belonged to Fangmeyer. Within the matter of a few seconds, all of the details of the room become more and more clear.

The walls surrounding him looked like they constructed out of dark wood, and several posters for campy sci-fi movies from decades past could be seen in frames that were mounted upon them. On another wall was a dartboard, with several red-colored darts still stuck to several sections of it. A foosball table was in another section of the large space, and on the opposite side was an old and bulky projection tv with some kind of game running on it.

The purple tanker boots of Wolford's avatar clacked against the linoleum floors of the room as he got closer to where the television was positioned. A gaming chair with a bluish design on it was nearby, and Fangmeyer could be seen sitting in it with a black and green game controller in both paws.

"Fangmeyer?" Wolford inquired, trying to get his attention off of the game for the time being.

The tiger immediately turned his head away from the large screen of the television, setting the controller down on the ground and rising from out of his chair. Once he had abandoned playing the game, the futuristic vehicle that he was riding through the tunnel on the screen came to a halt. "_Game Over_"—the two most unlikable words any gamer could possibly see or hear—flashed across the screen afterwards, quickly being replaced with a display that showed who placed where during that race.

"And I was just a few seconds away from beating my record time, too," Fangmeyer said to the wolf standing in front of him. "Anyhow, what is it you waned to tell me about?" Pointing to him, he added, "Like the new outfit, by the way."

Wolford's avatar donned an unzipped vest that exposed a muscle shirt underneath it. On his paws were purple fingerless gloves that showed off his claws, and on his legs were spiked knee pads.

"Hey, thanks," the canid replied upon being complemented, looking down at his figure. "It cost me a good number of credits to buy this upgrade, but I can't say it ain't worth it."

"I can agree to that," Fangmeyer said. "It takes a lot to acquire some of the outfits you can give yourself on here." He placed on his own on his own attire—a heroic suit that was tinted a deep shade of blue, with a red emblem near his chest. "Especially my latest purchase. Here, I'll show you it in a second."

The tiger accessed his player inventory. Browsing through his avatar's possible customizations, he selected the one he wanted to show Wolford. The inventory closed, and Fangmeyer's appearance started to quickly shift. His arms and legs had changed into skeletal versions of themselves, while his upper half remained the way it was.

"Woah," Wolford said. "Dude, you can become a skeleton? That's frickin'_ awesome_."

"Yeah, I agree," Fangmeyer replied. "But it costed a helluva lot of credits. All of the ones I earned completing that Halloween-themed mission went to this. I could either buy this or a mummy one for the same amount, so I chose this." While they were on the topic, he remembered something else he had acquired. "Which reminds me of another one I unlocked while completing said mission."

Opening his inventory once again, Fangmeyer scrolled for yet another one of his avatar's obtained costumes. Upon making his selection once again, what he currently had on started to change to an outfit that looked like it had been shipped from the North Pole. His clothing changed to a large red suit that Santa Claws wore in the depictions of him. Gloves now covered his paws, and complimentary spits of holly and miniature ornamental bulbs added to the outfit. Along with the change of clothing, the tiger now had a set of elegantly-curved reindeer antlers and a nose that was red. And, while the upper part of his body kept its ordinary feline appearance, the bottom half of his body had changed to that of a reindeer, with hooves and a much smaller tail.

Wolford looked at him and shook his head. "Geez," he muttered. "Now how in the world did ya get _this _one?"

Fangmeyer snickered under his breath. "Gettin' my paws on this one was damn near impossible," he answered. "In order to do it I had to get a perfect score in that one Christmas village challenge. That meant I had to dodge every obstacle and not screw up once. I read rumors on here that you got this if you did right, so I gave it a shot. Turns out the rumors of the reward for doing just that were true."

"Awesome," the canid replied. "Just awesome. See I don't a whole bunch of extra outfits like you do. The only ones I got are the one I'm wearin' and that one I used to use that made me look like a black and white cartoon."

"Ah, yeah, I remember that one. Anyhow, I was-"

_Blip!_

An electronic sound to the striped feline's right made him freeze in the middle of their conversation. He turned his head and realized that it was coming from a small communication device that was sitting by the chair he had previously been sitting in. He swiped up with a paw and looked at what was being currently displayed upon its screen. A request had been made for someone else to join him and Wolford in the chat room.

Once he got a look at the name of who had made the request, he immediately accepted it, and then switched back to his avatar's regular form. A few seconds after he did so, the tiger and wolf both heard someone strolling over to where he was standing. The steps came from the figure of a cheetah that was slowly approaching them.

"Clawhauser," Wolford said upon seeing who had walked in. "Good thing you dropped by, 'cause I was just about to tell Fangmeyer somethin' and maybe you'd like to hear it too."

The cheetah's avatar build was a lot more slender than his actual body, which was _actually_ a bit more rotund in reality. He donned a white and blue cap with a blue pine tree symbol on the front of it, as well as a navy vest with an orange shirt underneath it.

"Before you tell us about that, I got something to say as well," Clawhauser stated. "You know that simulation of Valenwood that we talked about a couple days ago? Well I decided to check it out for the fun of it and I ended up unlocking something pretty cool along the way."

The large spotted feline opened his avatar's inventory and selected something from its holographic display. Once he made his choice, the hat he was wearing was immediately replaced with a metal helmet that covered a good portion of his head and face.

"Oooh," Wolford uttered upon seeing what Clawhauser had recently unlocked.

"I know, right?" the cheetah responded. "Supposedly it's supposed to grant me some sort of immunity if I'm in a combat zone. Isn't that something?"

"That's awesome," the timber wolf that was listening to him said. "Congratulations."

"Oh, _and _I got this new power-up," Clawhauser continued with enthusiasm. "When I apply it, it allows me to levitate for several minutes at a time. Gosh, it is just the coolest!" A few seconds of silence filled the room, and his mind came back to what the wolf had just told him before he started to ramble. "So what is it that you wanted to tell me and Fangmeyer?"

"Oh, right." Wolford paused a brief moment. "I think I've got an idea on where the next key is hidden."

Both Fangmeyer and Clawhauser let out gasps of enthusiasm, now eager to know more on the matter.

"Well?" the tiger of the three said. "Spit it out. Where's this thing at?"

"Hear me out, you two," the canid answered. "I have good faith that it's waiting just outside the perimeter of that area with those grottos. Where we we're thinking of looking the other day before we decided not to."

"That's where you think it is?" Clawhauser asked after a momentary pause. "In one of those little caves? What gave you that sudden notion?"

"If I tell you guys why I think this, will you promise not to laugh?" Wolford inquired in reply.

Fangmeyer nodded his head, and the cheetah alongside them pantomimed the motion of zipping his lips closed.

The timber wolf exhaled before telling them why. "Well…" he said. "I had this dream about before I came on here, and I thought we should head over to where I saw in the-"

Right then and there, the tiger interrupted him with an abrupt snicker. Wolford immediately casted a glare in his direction.

"I thought you just promised to not laugh at what I was sayin'," the canid snapped.

"Yeah, I know," Fangmeyer replied. "It's just that following something that you had a dream about just seems pretty silly. You probably dreamt about that 'cause figuring out where it is has been on your mind."

"Then you've _obviously_ never heard of precognitive dreaming," Wolford remarked back. "You know, where mammals have a dream about something that's going to happen before it does. How do you know I wasn't having a little foresight about the OASIS?"

"You have every right to believe in what you want to, but I'm just tryin' to think a little bit more realistically here."

Wolford huffed and crossed his arms. "Alrighty then," he said. "When I find this key and then solve the whole shebang single-handedly, don't be lookin' for an invitation to my victory party."

"Hey," Clawhauser chimed in, looking over at Fangmeyer. "Putting the whole dream debate aside, I personally think Wolford might be on to somethin'. It's quite possible that the key could be in one of those caves. Think about it: That area gets barely any visitors, so it'd be the perfect place to stash a hidden object. It'd be the last place on anyone's radar."

"Thank you, Clawhauser," the wolf remarked. He turned his attention away from the cheetah and looked back at the tiger in the room. "I'm just going with my gut feeling here. The worst we could do is go scope the scene and find out that what we're lookin' for isn't there. What do we really got to lose except a little bit of our time?"

Fangmeyer let out a small sigh. "I suppose you're right," he admitted. "Let's head over and check this place out, then."

"Alright!" Wolford exclaimed, joyfully pumping a fist in the air. "Fangmeyer, this means you're back on the invitation list for that victory party. Better yet, you and Clawhauser can actually come help me host the thing."

The orange-furred feline shook his head at his childish remark.

"Okay," Clawhauser said, holding a paw stiffly out in front of him. "Paws in the middle, everyone."

"What?" Fangmeyer responded.

"You know, paws in the middle?" the cheetah asked in reply. "Where we put our paws together, one on top of the other, to symbolize that we're a team?"

"Since when has a group putting their paws in a pile ever held a great amount of significance?"

Wolford responded, "Don't be the dampener of our spirits."

Fangmeyer complied with canid, joining him and Clawhauser. Wolford placed his paw on top of the cheetah's, and the tiger placed his on top of the canid's. A few seconds, the three of them lifted their arms and swung them up into the air. Both Wolford and Clawhauser had enthusiastic expressions now taking form across their muzzles.

"There's normally supposed to be some kind of cheer that comes after the whole paw-stack thing," the cheetah of the group said, "but I couldn't think of any at the moment."

Wolford remarked, "To the caves we go!"

* * *

**_Meanwhile, in another spot in the OASIS..._**

Running as if his very life depended on it—which it did in a sort of way—the figure darted over to the left of the dilapidated street corner. He noticed a series of large crates stacked tall enough o provide him with a shield of protection, and he got himself over to them and ducked.

Collecting his breath, he took one quick glance back at what awaited him on the other side of the wooden crates that kept him partially safe. Fires burned in various places, the windows of several buildings looked as if they had been smashed, and the sounds of guns being cocked and fired could be heard.

As snarling noises from something in the distance greeted his ears, he turned his head back around. His eyes looked down at the bulky gravity gun, which he continued to grip on to with the monstrous, aqua-green paws of his avatar's colorful form. While figuring out what his next move was going to be, he started to question to himself why he had even decided to do an OASIS activity as intense as this in the first place.

Setting what he had grasping onto down on the ground for just a moment, he opened up a screen that allowed him to remain in communication with the other players. When the screen of who he wanted to speak with loaded up to his side, the figure of a muscular rhino, who he could see was running from something, appeared.

"Come on, mammal!" he shouted to the rhino on the screen. "You better get over here and back me up!"

"I'm sorry," the ungulate he was speaking with said with a heavy sigh, caused by the endured running. "I was stuck between a rock and a hard place awhile ago."

"Just get here quickly!"

He shut down the screen and picked the gravity gun back up. Clutching onto it, he slowly lifted himself from off of the dirty, litter-covered ground and took a couple of baby steps back. As his ears continued to register the sounds of gunfire, he pressed a button on what he was holding onto and pointed it towards the crate on the very top of the stack. The gravity gun did its job, lifting the wooden box from where it stood and keeping it in the air.

He walked out of where he originally had some safety and out towards where all of the commotion was. He pulled the trigger, and the crate flew into the air, traveling a good distance. Not exactly the best move, but it gave whoever was out there an indication that someone was present and would engage in combat with them if necessary.

After creating that small distraction, he stealthily slid onto the nearby sidewalk, coming across where a glass window had been smashed and stepping inside to where it lead. Where he found himself now was a vacant room with gray walls, coated in vivid graffiti. As long as he stayed away from that opening the broken window created and stayed to the side, he'd have a lot more protection than he did before.

It'd be even better if that rhino would get here quicker and help him out, but it was evident that things weren't exactly going to be as easy as he wished for them to be.

A nearby boom resonated across the cityscape, causing him to jump in shock. He remained in the corner of where he was now hiding in, trying his best to remain calm. But how was he to remain calm in the middle of a dangerous situation like this?

He heard something smack against the graffiti-stained wall on the opposite side of the abandoned room, landing on the ground. For a few seconds, he didn't move a single muscle. But when he noticed that what had landed in the space was a grenade, a sudden state of panic kicked in.

"Crap!" he yelled to himself.

He quickly ran back out of where the window had been broken, but not quickly enough to escape the grenade's inevitable detonation.

* * *

"Dang it!"

The moment his avatar had died, Finnick snatched the goggles off of his eyes and snarled in a fit of anger. The views of the small and dingy apartment came back to him as the fennec fox's eyes readjusted to the scenery around him.

He had been playing for a good bit of time now, and he was downright irritated by the fact at what just happened. Not to mention the fact that what he obtained during that period of time was now lost, and would probably now be collected by whoever encountered it next in that zone.

_And that crap had to happen when I was gettin' close to completing that course, _he thought to himself. _That just ticks me off…_

After his avatar had died, it was going to be a little bit of time before he could log back in and try again. Until that moment came around, though, it was probably in his best interest to just take a breather and avoid getting too worked up about all of this.

It was time for him to just enjoy a couple minutes in the _real_ world.

* * *

**_Meanwhile, in Bunnyburrow…_**

Turning the sign on the door from "Open" to "Closed," the portly fox was closing up shop for the remainder of the day. On this day of the week, his hours only ranged from around seven in the morning and three in the afternoon. Not the most orthodox opening and closing times when compared to things similar to his, but that was the thing that he liked the most about running his own business. Being his own boss and the runner of the places, he had the granted ability to create whatever hours he wanted.

As he looked around at his humble little shop one more time before heading out the door. A few minutes later, he locked up the building and got ready to go home for the rest of the day. Not that many customers on this particular day, except for one couple that stopped in to grab something small every few weeks or so.

With the crises that had been going on for awhile, he expected his business to gradually decline in terms of what he sold. But the Tri-Burrows were getting along quite well, and, much to his surprise, the unfavorable scenarios his mind thought could happen eluded his business as well. Even in the midst of these less-than-favorable times, there was still a good number folks that wished to treat themselves to baked goods, and thank the gods for that. Today, though, was just a lot less busier in comparison to the previous days in the month. But that didn't mean he was going to go home and fret about it. He simply did what he had taught himself to do: Shrug it off with the knowledge that something better than today was yet to come.

Getting himself the vehicle that proudly displayed the name of his business, Gideon started to drive himself back to where he lived. His home sat a good fifteen minute drive away from where his bakery was, and there was no such thing as bad traffic where he lived in this part of the country, so the commute would be easy-peasy.

Once he got back to the house, he walked over and took his load off. In the corner of the room sat something he never believed he would ever purchase. An OASIS haptic suit and goggles, sized to fit his body type. When the whole thing came out, he originally showed no interest to it. The evolution of modern technology was never really something he showed a lot of care for.

But two things changed his viewpoint on the OASIS: One of those being Sharla. When he heard the sheep, who always had a large fascination for science, gadgetry and the like, said she was joining in on all of the fun, he knew he had to participate in the big hunt. Even though he was quite unfriendly towards her and her friends when they were all little, Gideon made up for his mistakes in the past and ended up becoming good friends with her. And the more time they spent together, both in the real and virtual world, he personally felt like a connection was establishing between them.

And the second of those things was the competition. When it was publicly announced that mammals around the world were beginning the ultimate hunt for the hidden easter egg in the vast game, Gideon decided to join in. It went against what he used to think on technology altogether, but was wrong with a little competition? A little contest never killed anyone.

_Speakin' of contests, _Gideon thought, walking over to where the suit was and getting himself into it. _I'd say it's time for me t' continue searchin'._

* * *

The moment he slipped his goggles over his eyes, he was greeted with the sights of what looked like a cozy-looking cabin. Over to the left was a fireplace that seemed to be warming up the area, as the sights he could see from some nearby windows looked out to nothing but a think blanket of snow.

_This must have been where I was last time, _he thought.

He was still unsure of how the game functioned, so he was surprised to find out he was right where he had left off.

As he got closer to where the fire had been kindled, he heard the sounds of acoustic guitar starting to play around him. He started to approach a polished brown table, where a pie sat in a fancy serving dish. It looked as if it just came out of the oven not too long ago, and he started to smell a rich and buttery aroma coming from it.

"Smells like… butterscotch and cinnamon," he muttered to himself.

A chiming sound disturbed his thoughts, causing him jump due to its unexpectedness. Right then and there, he was met with a message that covered his vision, saying that Sharla was asking him to join her in her chat room. The moment he saw the black sheep's face appear, he immediately accepted the request.

* * *

The views of the comfy cabin were gone, and were soon replaced with a location that was pretty dark. Gideon saw a glow of blue light a couple paces away from him, and he decided to follow it. The light got closer and closer, and as he continued to walk forward, what now surrounded him made his mouth hang wide open in utter amazement.

He was now standing in the middle of a scientific room that he used to think only existed in one of those futuristic shows that used to play on television. Blue fluorescent bulbs illuminated the walls on either side of him, casting a glow against a series of long-stretching desks. Resting on these flowing bureaus was a series of scientific instruments used for taking measurements or providing an analysis on an object. Several nearby modems beeped as he passed them by, the sound they produced reminding him of the kind of heart monitor would make.

No doubt about it that this was how Sharla decided to decorate her space within the OASIS. Considering science had been something she was obsessed with studying from her early schooldays, a space decked to the brim with scientific gadgets and gizmos was pretty much assumed of her.

His attention ended up going up to the ceiling, which went from completely dark to faintly lit as he gazed up at it. Just then, the entire roof above him became filled with clusters of twinkling stars belonging to their galaxy. Minuscule words appeared underneath a good number of them, indicating the name they were classified under. It was as if he were standing right in the middle of a humongous planetarium.

"Golly," he breathed, taking in the scenery above him. It was as if he were stargazing, minus the outside elements.

The stars all around the ceiling quickly dissipated, quickly being replaced with realistic images of some of the planets in the solar system. Gideon continued to stare at with a great sense of amazement.

The whirring of a loud buzzer startled him, and looked over to see two large chrome doors gradually sliding open. Over where the hatches were now agape, a purely white room could be seen, with Sharla currently occupying it.

The fox started to walk up to where she was, noticing that she actually appeared to be levitating off of the ground. The ovine was wearing a white tank top with a circular logo on it, as well as a pair of orange pants that looked like they were part of a jumpsuit. A wide smile seemed plastered on her face as she continued to float around in this small space of the room, her hooves barely touching the ground.

Sharla maneuvered herself away from the room she was in, her motions similar to the kind a swimmer would make while underwater. The moment her body stepped out of the plain white section of the area, she suddenly stopped levitating and landed on the floor. She stumbled for a couple of seconds before looking over at Gideon.

"Hey," the sheep greeted.

"Well, ain't that somethin'," the fox remarked in response.

"What are you talking about?"

"How in the world did ya get yerself t' float 'round in the air like that?" Gideon asked.

"Oh," Sharla replied, "when I was customizing this little space, I decided to equip it with a little zero-gravity room."

"Heh, well that's a purty neat addition to the place. Heck, this whole place is amazin'."

"That's the great thing 'bout all of this. You can pretty much do anything your heart desires when you're in a virtual reality. You wanna give the zero-g a try? It's pretty fun."

Gideon shook his head. "Naw, I might have t' take a raincheck on that, Sharla. I dunno nothin' 'bout how that 'ere-"

"Come on," Sharla interrupted, holding her hoof out and pulling him forward.

She took him by the arm and started to drag him towards the zero-gravity room within the gigantic, scientifically-themed room. As soon as she lead him directly into that brightly-lit space, they both started to float from off of the ground.

Sharla let go of the fox's paw and drifted towards another corner of the area. She whooped gleefully as she did a small flip in the air. Gideon, meanwhile, was trying his darnedest to get accustomed to the sensation of floating freely without any gravitational force. The fox's eyes indicated to her that he was a bit nervous, but that feeling quickly dissipated for him once he had gotten accustomed to what was occurring. As he continued to drift weightlessly, it actually started to feel kind of fun to him.

Gideon hovered over to the corner where Sharla was floating. He did a horizontal spin, similar to a barrel roll an aeroplane made when in flight, as he got closer towards her.

"There you go," Sharla remarked. "Now you're gettin' the hang of the zero-g."

The fox smiled and laughed under his breath. "Hold on," he said to the ovine, "wait 'til ya see this."

The black-wooled sheep watched as Gideon propelled himself forward and wafted towards the center of the room. He tucked his body into a ball, pulling his knees up to his chest as if he were about to do a cannonball. He did another little flip in the air before doing a high kick in the air and holding his paws out in front of him like he was some sort of kung fu artist.

Sharla couldn't help but chuckle at the large vulpine's antics. "Nice moves," she said. "Especially that kick at the end. Reminds me of that martial arts movie. You know, the one where that tiger fights off the bad snow leopard." She floated over to the wall behind her, where three red buttons were located. "Check this out."

The sheep placed a hoof over the second button in front of her and pressed it. A short buzz reverberated around the area, and the shining white room became pitch black. Gideon looked around as he continued to float, and he started to notice some shape forming underneath him. An elliptical-shaped vortex started to grow on the flooring below him and the ovine, glowing with vividness hues of magenta and light blue.

"Gosh," Gideon muttered. "What's this, Sharla?"

"It's one of the three programmed backgrounds this room can change to," Sharla explained. "That eclipse you're seein' on the floor is a replicated image of a stellar overdensity."

The fox responded, "Well, 'ere's some four-dollar words. I ain't got that much know-how on any of that science stuff, but it sure sounds neat."

"There's one other mode I want to show ya," the black sheep said, pushing the bottom button in.

Not even a few seconds later, the lights started to come back on. Gideon shielded his face as he tried to adjust to their sudden brightness once again.

Putting the paw that was shielding his eyes back down, he noticed that, even though the lighting was back to normal, the walls were entirely different. In contrast to their unpigmented appearance, the walls of the zero-gravity space had become a reflector. The look of the room now made him feel as if they were both standing inside a hall of mirrors at a carnival.

He turned his head around and continued to glimpse at the many reflections of both his and Sharla's avatar staring back at him. A buzzer resonated once again, and the mirrors vanished, being replaced with those colorless walls that were originally there before.

Sharla floated over to the opposite side of the space, locating a switch that remained covered by a glass container. This was the switch that temporarily shut off the room's zero-gravity simulation. Lifting the container up, she pressed the button and quickly darted over to where Gideon remained.

As she did so, a robotic voice commenced a countdown from five. Once it reached zero, she found herself falling back down to the ground along with Gideon. She landed right on her hooves and assisted the fox up after he had landed a bit clumsier than her.

"Well, I'll be darned," he remarked to himself, walking out of the room and back to where all of the scientific instruments were.

Sharla followed his steps shortly afterwards, and the doors to where they were a few moments ago automatically shut and locked themselves after they walked away.

"Anyway," the ovine said, "now that you're here, I got an idea on where we could go."

"Well, wherever that might be," Gideon responded, "tell me it ain't gonna be somewhere crazy. 'Cause _last time _ya insisted we check out that, uh… whatcha say that super dark thing we did was called again?"

"Hero's Duty?" Sharla replied.

The fox nodded his head. "Yep. Now that ya said it, the name rings a bell." He shivered upon remembrance of what they were discussing. "That's somethin' I don't wanna do a second time. I _still _remember when that huge bug-lookin' thing swooped down and pinned me t' the ground. Not somethin' I'm lookin' t' do a second time."

"You don't gotta worry one bit, Giddy," was the reassuring answer he got. "We're not goin' anywhere near there."

Gideon breathed a sigh of relief. "Whew, that's good t' hear."

"Because what I had in mind," Sharla continued, "was something even more fast-paced than that was."

"I gotta feelin' this ain't gonna be good."

"Don't be quick to judge. I'm actually thinkin' that you're gonna like this."

"Let's pray yer right 'bout that." After a brief pause, Gideon asked, "Besides, shouldn't we be tryin' t' find out what we need t' get our paws on if we wanna win this contest?

"The contest can wait for right now. Let's go."

* * *

The next thing he knew, Gideon found himself behind the steering wheel of a very exotic-looking vehicle. Where the radio was located consisted of a lot of different buttons, their functions unknown to him. This luxurious ride was far more advanced when compared to the vehicle rode around and made deliveries with in the real world.

The fox continued to gaze out of the front window of the car, looking at all of the other kinds of vehicles that were in front of him and encompassing him on either side. Most of them were similar to what he was currently behind the wheel, while others were open-wheeled dragsters. A small number of larger trucks were also present, as well as few motorcycles.

"I oughta admit," Gideon said to himself. "This here idea o' Sharla's ain't lookin' that bad. I always had a thing for auto racin' when I was a lil' kit, so bein' part of it's actually purty interestin'."

Just then he heard a distorted noise arising from the nearby speakers. As the noise started to dissipate, he started to hear Sharla's voice becoming audible.

"Pretty neat idea I came up with, huh?" she asked.

It was as if she could hear him despite her not being in the same place as he was, or she was reading his mind. One or the other. He wanted to respond to her, but he didn't know how in the blazes to do that. For a moment he just remained silent, his paws still gripping tightly onto the steering wheel.

"Giddy?" Sharla asked, breaking the noiselessness. "You there?" A second later, she answered her own inquiry. "Oh, right. You're wonderin' how you to work the whole communications thing. Press and hold that one button below the radio for a couple of seconds. If you do that, both of our communicators well be in sync with one another as we drive."

Gideon looked over at the radio and located the button she was pertaining to. He did as he was instructed, pressing and holding it in. When he heard a series of chimes played in a deep chord, he assumed that meant he could let go of the button.

_So… does that mean she can hear me? _he asked himself in his head.

"You got it workin'?" came the sheep's voice once again.

Gideon didn't know what he was supposed to do next. It wasn't like they talking through walkie-talkies, where he knew to hold a button down to speak with another mammal. His first thought was to just speak out loud and see what resulted of that.

"Uh, yeah, I think I got it," he muttered aloud. "Can ya hear me, Sharla?"

He got no answer for a couple of seconds, but the sound of static soon filled the car. "I read ya loud and clear," the ovine confirmed.

Now knowing he did things correctly, Gideon put on a smile and reclined back in the driver's seat. "What car ya in, anyhow?" he asked after a brief pause.

"I'm the jet black one in front of you," she answered. "The one that looks identical to the one you're in."

Gideon looked around and searched for the vehicle Sharla was in, spotting it quite quickly. He waved a paw in the air. "I'm wavin' towards ya," he said. "Can ya see me or naw?"

The small sound of the sheep chuckling was the response he got. "You know I'm too far away to see that," she responded.

"Oh well," Gideon muttered in reply, putting the paw he was waving back down on the steering wheel.

"The race is probably gonna start shortly," Sharla informed.

"I'm ready. Y'know, I gotta tell ya that this was one swell idea ya came up with. Like my childhood dreams comin' t' life."

"Told you you'd like what I had in mind. Also, I was just thinking of something."

"And what's that?"

"Maybe this might be the location of what were supposed to find next."

"What makes ya say that?"

"Well, thinking back to the clue, I remember there being a mentioning of roaring. Maybe I'm reading into it, but it's possible that the roaring its pertaining to is the roaring of engines. Like in the cars we're driving."

"So ya think the key's waitin' at the end of the track?"

"It's just a wild guess, but it's possible."

"Sharla, yer a genius. I'd have never got that oughta the clue."

The nearby stoplight above the starting line he and the others remained idle in lit red, and the noise of many engines roaring greeted the fox' ears. He got himself ready as the light then changed to yellow. The very instant it became green, he gave the car some gas as those ahead of him started to rocket out of the start of the racing course stretched out ahead of them.

The wide path that proceeded remained straight for a good distance, up until they all came to the first right turn. Gideon and the others maneuvered their way through it, and they started to approach yet another turn, this time directing them the other direction.

Two cars that were behind him managed to get in front of him, passing him and Sharla up. Him and the sheep both started to approach a fork in the track's path, giving them and the other racers the choice of where they wish to go.

Although Gideon was certain that it was all connected and that either direction would result in them getting to the same place, he decided to make a left turn the moment Sharla's car made one. It was better that he go on the same course that she was than to split up and do the opposite.

A good bit of the other vehicles were taking the right turn as the fox and sheep passed them all up. Within his field of vision, Gideon started to see that the path he was steadily approaching appeared to be elevated, as if they were about to merge onto some sort of raised expressway.

He simply continued to follow Sharla as they both reached the elevation. What followed was them continuing to drive onto a bridge, trying to maintain a speed that would hopefully lead to them passing up the two that were in front of them.

Midway across the bridge portion of the track, Gideon started to see the outlines of a skyscraper-line metropolis, standing against a body of water, gradually coming into view. Within his peripheral vision, he noticed the cars that had taken the path on the right starting to approach the city area as well. Just as he presumed, they were all going to meet up in the same location until another fork in the passage came about.

They were reaching the descending portion of the bridge, and Gideon started to see something glowing on the left. Although he wasn't sure what it was, it looked like some sort of circle that was flashing like the lights on top of a police cruiser. Curiosity started to fill him in that moment, and he steered towards it and drove passed it. As he did that, orange holographic letters appeared across his windshield, saying: _Speed Boost Acquired. Push Flashing Button to Activate._

An icon where the "Check Engine" light would normally be appeared on his dashboard, and he assumed this had something to do with what he had just gotten. _But how do I turn on what it's tellin' me to? _he asked himself.

He took one paw off of the wheel for a quick moment, and he located another button near the radio that was flashing. Because he was told to press a flashing button to activate it, he went ahead and did so.

The very instant he did that, what occurred next totally caught him off guard. Even though he never pressed any harder on the gas pedal, his speed seemed to increase at least twenty more miles per hour. A look of surprise now across his face, Gideon quickly jerked the wheel to the right upon approaching Sharla's car, his tires screeching. And the moment he saw those other two ahead of him, he immediately steered himself to the left to avoid hitting them.

Right after that had happened, his speed had went right back to where it had originally been prior to that boost. Gideon let out a large of sigh of relief.

"Sharla," he said as he drove, "I dunno what that 'ere was, but that sure was nuts."

The sheep's voice came through the car once again. "Must have been some power-up," she responded. "A lot games like this have them hidden around, and this one's no exception. Anywho, I'm comin' up on your left."

The moment he looked over in that direction, Gideon saw Sharla's car passing his up, getting in front of him before speeding up a little bit more. The fox chuckled to himself before picking up speed as well.

They were now within the city that they saw while on the bridge. Now that they a lot closer to them, the skyscrapers were a lot more visible and looked even bigger as he quickly passed them by. Flashes of buildings with business logos on them and such flew by as he and Sharla both continued to put the pedal to the medal. The city streets were completely empty and branched off in a multitude of possible passages.

As Sharla made a right, so did Gideon. Behind him, meanwhile, he could hear the sounds of certain cars crashing into one another. And to his left a couple of other drivers could be seen going by.

After going down the direction they had been for a good distance, he started to see the water on his right, with simulated sunlight glistening down upon it. A distant car going to down a road way out from where they were could be seen, approaching some sort of ramp that seemed to dive straight into the water.

_What's he doin'? _Gideon thought as he saw this. _Ain't he aware that he's gonna hit the water?_

His internal question was answered when the fox caught sight of the car flying across the ramp and into the air. While it was in that state, the car he was seeing started to shift, transforming into a speedboat that hit the water with a splash before causing along.

"What the-" Gideon muttered to himself. "How'd that car just turn to a _boat_?"

He didn't worry about that for long, though; he and Sharla had a race to do. He had to remember that he was in the OASIS, after all, and it was in here that anything was possible. And that included cars that turned into motor-powered watercraft, he just realized.

Both Gideon and Sharla were reaching the end of the metropolis portion of this course. It was as he was following the sheep along that he began to notice something. An incline started to emerge from the paved road, and the fox's eyes began to widen. There was no other way to go at the current moment, leaving him no other option but to go over this ramp.

He watched as Sharla's car sped up and zoomed over it, and his eyes widened as he started to approach it. He heard clanking below him as the car he was riding started to zip across it and into the air a good height. The buildings started to look a tad smaller, and the fox started to feel a sensation of weightlessness while in midair.

"Woo-hoo!" he heard Sharla's voice exclaiming over the speakers.

Within the matter of a few seconds, his car was getting closer to the road once again. The moment it dropped back onto the paved path, he felt the vehicle swerve for a short moment before he regained control of it.

Gideon wasn't exactly the adrenaline fanatic that Sharla was, but he had to admit that this was actually becoming quite fun to him.

* * *

**_Meanwhile, elsewhere in the OASIS..._**

The trek the two had been carrying was a bit of a treacherous one, but if she was correct in her presumptions about what lied ahead, it would all be worth it in the end.

Judy continued to grip tightly onto the sword in her paw, her back against Nick as a small horde of villains emerged and flocked where they were standing.

"Geez, it's like these things are never-ending," Nick muttered as they approached him, holding on tighter to the club-like weapon with a spiked ball at the end of it.

A dark figure started to run closer to him, stumbling a bit as it ran up to him. Lucky for him and Judy, the foes that were approaching were only zombies, which were a lower class of villain in this particular world in the OASIS. Now if it would have been something with a larger level of power, that would be when he would decide to flee the land.

As the zombie canid in tattered clothing went to attack at him, Nick swung the weapon towards it, knocking it onto its back. The villainous figure disappeared on the spot, indicating that the swing was enough to get rid of it.

Meanwhile, two much larger foes had Judy cornered, but that didn't mean she was willing to give up anytime soon. She leaped into the air, brought both legs out and delivered kicks both of the foes, causing them to stumble more than they previously were. Once she had landed on the ground, she swung her sword towards one of the zombies, and it disappeared upon getting hit with it. The remaining one grunted at her, making her ears perk up, and she quickly turned around to face it. Dropping the sword onto the grass below her, she sent several fierce kicks towards it while in midair, and it vanished.

Nick looked back over at Judy and grinned. "Takin' 'em out with Bun Kwon Do, eh, Carrots?" he remarked.

A groaning sound caught his attention, and the vulpine instinctively swung his club towards what had made the utterance. After that had been defeated, he quickly scanned his surroundings alongside Judy. The coast was clear, at least for now.

"Okay," the gray doe said. "No one's here, so it's probably smart we get to the stronghold while we still can."

"Right behind you," Nick replied, and started to dart in the direction that Judy started to run in.

* * *

Not much remained of the fortification that looked like it had been constructed centuries ago, and Nick and Judy were just realizing that upon stepping through the entrance of it. The moment they entered, the bridge they walked upon was mysteriously raised, like some invisible force caused it. They were officially trapped inside, with no route of escape.

"Okay, we're stuck in here," Nick addressed, doing nothing more than stating the obvious. "Let's just put our paws together and pray this isn't some sort of trap.

"There's some writing on the wall over there by that torch," Judy said, pointing to what had captured her attention. "Let's go check it out."

They slowly walked over to it, realizing that it was not just writing. To the right of the medieval words that had been etched on the stone, a symbol had been engraved. It looked like the kind of spiral that had been associated with hypnosis in the movies.

"What is this?" Judy quietly asked, placing her paw directly on where the spiral was.

Nick immediately started to become panicked. "Don't touch that, Fluff. That could be a-"

The symbol started to spin upon the wall and cast a fluorescent glow within the dark fortress. A few seconds had passed, and the walls around them started to shake, as if an earthquake were about to commence where they stood. Judy let out a small gasp, and Nick braced himself for what his brain presumed was about to come next.

But nothing happened after that. After that small shaking sensation, the room they occupied remained perfectly still, and the symbol on the wall stopped moving.

Nick started to mutter, "I don't know what the heck that was just about, but I'm-"

"Congratulations, fellow seekers," a deep voice bellowed, echoing across the room. It sounded as if it had come directly from the heavens, as there was no one in the room except for the two of them.

"Who was that?" the vulpine asked, now staring up at the ceiling above him.

"Come collect the artifact that will lead you to the true reward," the unknown voice continued.

Before the fox or rabbit could ask any question, they both felt the floor fall from beneath their paws. The two of them both shouted as the surroundings of the stronghold went away.

* * *

Not even a few seconds later, they were standing on the very top of a hillside that outlooked both the castle and some pastures that encompassed it. A gust of wind bristled against their fur, and they both started to see something descending down to their level.

"The key," Judy muttered aloud upon seeing what it was.

The key that she pertained to stopped floating and landing directly in her paws. She gripped onto it and looked back at Nick.

"You were right about where we would find it," the fox said, smiling back at the gray doe.

"Hey, you two," someone said behind them, causing both of them look and see who it was.

Turning their heads in the direction the voice came from, they saw Jack and a vixen they could only assume was the "Skye" they spoke of earlier standing on the other side of the land.

"What?" Nick said. "You mean Jack beat us to this and got a hold of the key first?"

"You know, something just came to mind, Slick," Judy remarked.

"What is it, Carrots?"

"Where's Wolford and the others right now? I figured they would have figured things out and be not too far away from here."

* * *

**_Meanwhile…_**

"You see?" Fangmeyer inquired out of irritability as he lead the others out of the small cave they had been in. "You see why you don't follow something just because you have a dream about it? I knew that key wasn't gonna be in these caves!"

"It's alright, Fangmeyer," Clawhauser said from behind him, doing his best to see the positive in the current circumstances. "No one knows for sure until ya try."

"Yeah," Wolford chimed in. "It was worth a shot, you know?"

The tiger of the group continued, "But I just feel that we could've looked elsewhere by now and probably get find the dang thing."

Just then, the chiming sounds coming from all three of their communicators filled the silent cave, and all of them instinctively looked to see what they had been notified of.

"Are you freakin' kidding me?" Fangmeyer uttered.

"What's wrong?" Wolford and Clawhauser asked at the same time.

"Someone already found the key!"


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note: Okay, I had _too much _fun writing the previous chapter to this little crossover, so of course I had to write an addition to it.**

**This time around, I decided to add some different characters into this along with the others from before. ****And just like the previous chapter, in the spirit of Ready Player One, I've hidden a good number of references within here. :)**

**Anyway, I hope y'all enjoy this. ****As always, let me know what your thoughts were on this. Your thoughts, good and bad, are always gladly appreciated.**

**Enjoy! :)**

* * *

The large steel machine started to tumble to the ground like a tree falling in the woods. As it started to near the empty city streets, Judy immediately sprinted away from where it was going to end up landing. Just as it toppled and collided into the front of nearby building, she met up with Nick.

"The coast is now clear," an automated, monotone voice echoed above the heads of the two mammals. "Proceed to the shelter for further protection."

After hearing that, Nick looked over at Judy and asked, "Now where the heck is the shelter?"

Judy quickly pointed to a building a couple of blocks down on the right. "It's over there!" she exclaimed. "Come on! We can make it in time."

The rabbit started to run as fast as her paws could physically carry her, and Nick proceeded to follow her tracks from behind. The fox quickly pulled up his current inventory and selected one of the power-ups available for use within this particular game. It was what was called a "Speed Multiplier," with its ability being exactly what was stated—increasing a mammal's running speed.

Once it had been activated, Nick suddenly started to run much faster than he was a few seconds ago. He ran and joined Judy on her side as they both made way for the shelter they had been suggested to go to.

The two of them were currently playing one of the many different games available to them through the massive virtual reality known as the OASIS. This one in particular—which was of Judy's choosing—took place in a dystopian world ruled by large machines that scanned the city for mammals in order to hunt them down. The object of the game was to not get detected by any of the machines for the amount of time designated, and either run away or take them down if sighted by them. Even though there were some moments that nearly costed them the game within the last ten minutes, they were safe to say that things were going quite well.

"Only sixty seconds remaining," the same automated voice from before announced.

Now that they were this close to the building that would provide them with protection from the enemies of the game, the amount of time that was left wasn't as much of a concern.

The two mammals ran onto the litter-covered sidewalks and approached a bland building with a steel door reminiscent of the rollup kind on a self storage unit. Just as they were about to both breathe sighs of relief, however, a red dot started to shine right above their heads. Judy turned her head around to see that another giant, metallic machine was the source of that laser. It had managed to sight right before they could make it to safety.

"Sweet cheese and crackers," she muttered under her breath. She quickly unveiling her inventory and selecting a shield icon from the various choices. "Nick, get behind me!" she said to the vulpine behind her. "We got company!"

The second he heard the command from the doe, Nick got behind her and crouched down. Right then and there, Judy activated the protective shield that she had chosen from her inventory. Both of them were immediately encompassed by a purple dome, which easily reflected all of the bullets that the nearby machine started to fire near them. As long as they remained protected by this, neither of them would receive a scratch.

The machine seized fire upon being unable to hit them, proceeding to stomp its way to a different location away from them. The dome around the fox and rabbit dissipated, leaving them exposed to the danger of the cityscape once again.

The voice that made the announcements within the game came back on another time, telling them there was only twenty seconds left. Upon hearing this, Nick got back up from the ground, quickly looking in both directions to ensure that nothing was going to catch the two of them by surprise. He then darted over to where a big button was located. He placed his paw over it and pressed it multiple times, looking over and seeing the door to the shelter slowly opening up.

Once it was open enough fro them to fit inside, they both ran forward with only a few measly seconds to spare. Now that they were in where safety was a guarantee, the doorway behind them quickly shut again.

The shelter they now found themselves in was dimly lit and had a very eery feel to it. As they walked ahead a couple of spaces, they started to see a small group of mammals sitting down against the walls that now surrounded them. Some of them were huddled in blankets, clutching onto their kits with looks of fear plastered upon them, while others had a tough appearance to them. They all remained perfectly silent as they passed by; being a certain type of non-playable character within this game, they could not communicate or interact with players.

"You have completed the task," an automated, monotone voice echoed.

Following the announcement was the sounds of dark yet ambient music, which gradually increased in loudness as it reverberated around them.

Just as Nick went to speak to Judy, a holographic screen appeared over the heads of both mammals. "_Do You Wish to Restart?_" it read.

Nick placed a paw over the side of the screen that said "No" and watched as it disappeared from above them. He then pulled up the leaderboard. Displayed upon it were the names of who had found the key that lead to the prize hidden within the OASIS, and this list was him and Judy. As he gazed at the names that remained lower in place, he saw two progressing upward in status that made the fox let out a sigh. Below all of the names that typically remained in the same position were two players named "_Pack Member A113_" and "_Pack Member LK-4D4._"

"What is it, Nick?" Judy asked upon hearing his sigh.

"It seems like The Pack is gettin' smarter," the fox replied. "They found out where the key we did before was and now they're probably close to finding the next one. If they get their paws on that fortune, you just know they're gonna run the whole OASIS into the ground."

"Don't worry, Slick," Judy said to him. "We're gonna get it before any of them even come close to it."

Known by practically all of those on here determined to win the contest in the OASIS, The Pack pertained to a group of mammals, consisting mostly of wolves, bent on gaining control of the virtual reality and potentially destroying it. They were always being mentioned in reports on the news, and one could easily spot them in a crowd of avatars, as they could always be see in plain gray attire and helmets that displayed their given name within The Pack.

Nick smiled back at the gray rabbit's reassuring words, closing the screen that displayed the names. "Any sort of clues here that could help us out on our search?"

"None that I could point out," Judy responded. "But I still feel that the next key is hidden in something along the lines of science fiction. The riddle _did _say to 'aim towards the future.' So even though it's not in this sci-fi game, it's definitely in another one like this one."

"Where to next, then, Carrots?"

* * *

_**Meanwhile, elsewhere in the OASIS...**_

As he piloted his large spacecraft through the course of astroids floating around, he spotted a flock of several smaller ships zooming by. The gray wolf pressed flicked a few nearby switches on his vessel's controls before steering it upward and some distance to the right. Although he had gotten away from the enemy ships for now, there was no doubt that they would track where he was and return to where he was.

He had already scanned almost every possible inch of the perimeter of this game, and so far that had been no signs of what he was truly on the hunt for. There honestly wasn't anywhere else to go and explore, so he continued to course he was piloting in. He had already been here before, but he traveled this direction anyway.

_Perhaps there's something hidden really well and I'm just not seeing it, _he thought.

But he dismissed that possibility from his thoughts. The others were here as well, and had scattered in various direction to search for what he was. With a large number of fellow seekers present, whose skills in spotting things were extremely well, surely someone had to find something. It didn't make any sense whatsoever, but he had to just play the game and pray that he would come across something.

The dark galactic environment he was greeted with here was more of the same, which was nothing but planetoids circling freely on all sides. Approaching one of the astronomical objects closer to him, he activated one of his spacecraft's mechanisms and fired at it. A multitude crystallized pieces broke off of the planetoid, and he steered himself to where they were starting to drift to within this vacuum of outer space.

Once he got himself as close as possible to them, the wolf pressed a square button on his dash labeled "Crystal Collection." The pieces of the planetoid slowly started to approach his vessel, as if a humongous magnet was attracting them to it.

Before he could collect all of them, however, a good number of them swiftly drifted to the left, away from his ship. Looking out in that direction, he realized that the enemy ships were stealing the crystals for themselves.

As those ships flew away in unison, the gray-furred canid grunted under his breath. Several computerized beeps rung around him, and the image of a white wolf started to appear on the screen on the right side of the cockpit.

"Larry," the white wolf on the screen said, his voice sounding like nervousness was taking him over. "I'm in a bit of a pickle. I-I don't know what I'm supposed to do. I can't fend them off-"

The gray canid sighed and shook his head. "Gary," he replied, "the first thing you gotta do is calm the heck down. You're gonna think rationally if you're in a panic."

Gary could be seen taking several fast, deep breaths from the little image on the display. "These small ships are on my tail! Some of them keep going elsewhere and coming back but some of them are firing at me."

Larry responded, "I'll try to find out where you and some of the others are and I'll help you. You're just gonna have to try and fend them off as best as you can."

"I'm trying but something's wrong with my controls! It's like they're-"

A sudden boom came over the speaker near by the screen, and the display of Gary suddenly started to glitch and distort before its signal went blank.

"That's not good," Larry muttered to himself. "Those ships must've shot him down."

The gray wolf steered the ship upward and proceeded to zoom far away from the asteroids nearby.

"Beware! I live!" a muffled, wicked-sounding voice came from his speakers.

Larry sagged his head as that sound greeted his ears. _The danger's here, _he thought.

The gray wolf went with his first instinct and steered his ship to the right, praying that he didn't have any sort of run-in with what had just made that statement over the speakers. However, things started to worsen as he heard a deafening roar some time later.

The canid turned the vessel around, hoping that by doing so it would get him away from the peril that made itself present. But he only got so far before encountering a large, circle-shaped spacecraft within his path. It had a demonic-looking face constructed on its front, and the eyes and mouth of it glowed an eery red color as he approached.

The roar that he had heard not too long ago sounded once again, this time much louder than before. The noise pounded against him, making him want to put his paws over his ears like a pup to make it sound quieter.

Larry tried to get himself away, but quickly discovered that he couldn't steer in any direction. The buttons to the controls across his dash were all blinking as they started to malfunction. Beeping emitted across his ship, and he started to see that the indicator showing how much fuel was left was drastically starting to decrease.

His paws became shaky as he nervously gulped, bracing himself for his surroundings to suddenly cut to total darkness.

* * *

Larry gasped for air and removed the visor from off of his eyes. His heart feeling like it was going to pound out of his very chest, he looked around as the bland sights of the base's interior came back to him.

To his right he saw Gary, who had been sitting blankly as he stared of into the space. In front of him and behind, as well as on both of his sides, he saw that the rest of the members of The Pack were still in the game. Everyone was leaned back against their OASIS positioning seats, pantomiming several motions that all meant they were doing something in the game.

_The key was definitely not there, _he thought as he sagged his head.

* * *

_**Meanwhile, elsewhere in the OASIS...**_

The steady bassline of house music filled Jack's ears, coming from some bulky speakers not too far away from where a DJ was performing. From where he stood amongst the others present, a jackal could be seen standing on top of a tall podium shaped like a giant prism, which strobed as the performance continued. As the electronic musician turned some knobs on his old-fashioned turntable setup, the song being played started to increase in speed.

_Gosh, _he thought. _I wasn't expecting it to be this crowded at this time._

The mismatched sound of something above him caused the lagomorph to look away from the performance. As he peaked his head upward, his eyes caught sight of a spherical robot of some sort, with a blue glowing eye and two little handles. It glided across a swerving metal beam that was suspended from the ceiling. Trailing several inches behind it looked identical to it, only that it had a yellowish eye and was fidgeting as it incoherently mumbled about space.

"Look out behind you, rabbit!" he heard a certain voice say behind him, causing him to turn around from what he had been looking at.

Approaching him on his left a few seconds later was Skye, who was gliding in the air towards him on a hoverboard that looked like it came straight out of a movie. The blue full-body jumpsuit made her look absolutely gorgeous to him.

After the two of them engaged in a short conversation, the vixen started to walk away from all of the crowdedness. She had told him before that he had a surprise in store, and it was just a matter of time until he found out what it was. Jack followed her from behind, nearly colliding into some nearby robot with a white egg-shaped body and deep blue eyes.

Where Skye had them to was a good distance away from the crowds. The space he now found himself in stretched several hundred feet long, and positioned in several places within it were some large, globe-shaped vehicles, their appearance made them seem like they could easily glide around the area.

"What is this?" Jack asked. "A shortcut to the next key?"

"No. It's a little challenge I heard was happening on a forum post," the vixen said to him. Looking away from him, she added, "I'm taking the yellow one. That's one of my favorite colors."

Jack chuckled under his breath. As she walked up to where what she was heading towards was located, he followed her steps before going over towards a lime green vehicle of similar build. Once he approached it, the door on the side of it immediately slid open.

The striped rabbit took a seat inside the cushioned seat of the vehicle, looking at its controls. In front of him were three slender levers, as well as two pedals underneath them that he could assume were the brake and the acceleration.

The blank screen in front of him started to become filled with what looked like analog television static, which slowly faded away before being replaced with a still image. The image was a flat depiction of the space that he now found himself in.

"Welcome, participants," a deep voice announced, "to this competitive event. The object is pretty straightforward, and we will go over the rules before things begin. Your goal is to avoid being knocked off of the podium that the vehicles you and the other players are positioned upon. Portions of the flooring will gradually begin to disappear, increasing the difficulty and giving you less ability to maneuver freely. Whoever remains standing at the final portion of things will be able to continue to a track that concludes this slot of the event."

The images being displayed on the screen went on to give a very simplistic demonstration of what had just been spoken. As Jack watched them attentively, he quickly understood what was yet to come. The screen then changed to an illustration of the levers and pedals inside of his vehicle, with several flashing arrows pointing to them.

"The levers that you see in front of you," the announcer continued, "control which direction you wish to travel. Pulling either of the ones on your sides makes it travel either left or right, while the one in between those two is used for controlling whether you wish to go forwards or backwards. And the pedals below these controls are exactly the same on a standard car." As the image changed to a still image of the OASIS logo, it added, "We would also like to give everyone an important reminder: By being knocked off by another player, your avatar will be eliminated from the event and will be forced to regenerate at a later time. Remember to have fun, and good luck to you."

The display screen suddenly went black, and Jack sighed under his breath as he gripped his paws onto the levers that he now knew steered the vehicle left or right.

"Get ready!" A loud voice bellowed from some unseen speakers around him.

Following that proclamation was a detectable humming sound, coming from a large drone that was flying high above everyone that was here. A circular spotlight shined down from the aircraft, illuminating everywhere but the very edges of the area.

A feminine, monotone voice proceeded to count down from ten. Upon reaching one, several red lights surrounding everyone, similar to the kind on top of a police cruiser, started to flash. Accompanying their glow was the sudden sound of an air horn coming from the speakers.

Several of the vehicles on the opposite side of the arena, including Skye's, started to move forward, proceeding to thwack into one another like bumper cars at an amusement park.

* * *

_**In another location of the OASIS...**_

As his avatar materialized, he was immediately encompassed within a monochromatic world. The sky above, the grass underneath his paws, and the houses in the distance were all decked in shades of white, gray, and black. Its overall appearance and colorlessness was capable of giving any present goers the impression that they stepped straight into an old cartoon from the early days of animation, which was this area's exact intent.

With a wide smile taking over his muzzle, Wolford looked around at his surroundings and then gazed down at his avatar's reflection in the lake he now found himself standing near. His physical structure was practically complementary to the environment he had just entered. His body matched the landscape's black and white nature. Large cartoonish-looking eyes now took up a good portion of his face. His arms and legs now looked bendy and were much thinner than they were prior to activating this look for his avatar, and he now had a much shorter tail. Large white gloves now covered his paws, and he also had a tall and equally white hat resting on the top of his head.

Looking away from the water, he looked onto the horizon as the others that were accompanying him started to materialize a few paces away. Appearing before his eyes were none other than Clawhauser and Fangmeyer. Unlike the timber wolf, their avatars remained in full color, being the only tinges of it within this monochrome space. Wolford was the only one of the group who managed to unlock the ability to change his appearance to its currently-cartoonish look.

The tiger remained in the outfit that was standard for his avatar, while the cheetah seemed to be wearing a blue sailor's suit with white accents (the costume that he had most recently acquired).

"Woah," Clawhauser breathed as he look around at the black and white scenery. "This is pretty cool!"

"I know, right?" Wolford replied. "Couldn't agree more."

"So can you explain what we're doing here?" Fangmeyer chimed in. "Why are we in this cartoony land when the riddle we said hinted at something futuristic? Shouldn't we be heading towards somewhere with sci-fi feel to it if we wanna find it?"

The timber wolf paused before answering the tiger's questions. "You are right about the clue and how it said about the future," he said. "But old-time cartoons were kinda considered futuristic and evolutionary in their time. So how do you know that might not be the case here? What if the 'futuristic' part of the riddle's talking about the innovations made in the golden age of old-time cartoons?"

Fangmeyer nodded his head. The previous time he went by Wolford's notions, the result was nothing more than wasted time. But wha the canid was telling him actually seemed like a good possibility, even though he didn't wish to admit it out loud.

"You know," Clawhauser said, replying to the wolf, "that's actually a pretty good interpretation of that. I would've never came up with that."

"So what do we need to do now?" Fangmeyer asked.

"That's what I was getting to," Wolford continued. "I've played this particular game a good number of times—a _boatload_ of fun, by the way—but I could never surpass a certain level. I always end up getting stuck at it and end up having to give up 'cause there's too much happening at once. But then I said to myself, 'What if we all worked and get passed it?' So that's exactly what we're gonna do. I figured if three mammals were playing at once, that level will be a bit easier to beat."

Just as he had finished telling his plans to the two felines in front of him, a display screen popped up in front of him, dangling a few inches above his head. The words on it made it looked like an inter title displaying the dialogue in a silent film. "_Ready to Play?_" it read. Underneath it was the typical selection to say yes or no, as well as a little, caricature-looking illustration of a coyote in what looked like a clown's makeup.

Grinning with determination from ear to ear, Wolford leaped up to the display with joy and slapped a gloved paw on the icon that simply read "Yes."

The words on the screen disappeared, being replaced with an old-time film leader that displayed a countdown from the number five. Once it reached its end, the display vanished altogether. The three mammals were then met with the sounds of ceremonial-sounding fanfare. After the noise coming from the unseen brass instruments seized, three cavities suddenly opened within the ground right where each of them stood.

The three descended into a temporary state of pure darkness. Not even a few seconds later, however, the brightness came back, and they now found themselves standing in an entirely new location. Wolford hadn't flinched one bit by the sudden sensation, but Clawhauser and Fangmeyer were both looking around in confusion as to what had just happened.

"Oh, yeah," the wolf said. "I forgot to give you guys a heads-up about that beginning."

"You think?" Fangmeyer snapped.

"Go!" a bubbly voice—belonging to the announcer to the game—said with a chuckle.

Calliope music started to resonate around the three mammals, sounding as if it was coming from an old record being played on a gramophone. The canid of the group proceeded to start running forward, while the two behind looked around, unsure of what to do.

"Come on, guys!'' he said to them. "The beginning of the first level's this way!"

Clawhauser and Fangmeyer both ran forward and caught up with the wolf, and they all started to stroll from there. They passed up several rows of cartoony-looking houses and buildings that were stretched out on both sides, eventually coming across a spacious patch of land that stood at the very end of where they were walking through.

As they stepped off of the dirt road and onto the long and flowing grass, the rows of constructions started to disappear from behind them. The way they vanished almost looked like they were being rubbed away with a pencil eraser, which was truly fitting given the feel of the game they were in.

Now it was just the three of them and a large field of nothing. However, just when Clawhauser and Fangmeyer were unsure of what would occur next, the level to the game that Wolford was talking about started to become constructed before their very eyes.

A couple inches away from where the three stood, a slope that looked like it was built from aged materials started to appear, traveling upward in height. From where the elevation of it ended, a raised platform emerged, spacious enough for all of them to walk around on it without having to stay in a single-file line. Other platforms that required a good jump up to reach were also visible, as well as a series of flashing symbols levitating where they were positioned.

"O…M…Goodness," Clawhauser said upon seeing the course before him. "I cannot believe that just happened right now."

Wolford looked away from the cheetah and tiger and over at the pathway now in front of him. "Let's begin."

* * *

The three passed through the first few levels with ease, but this was right around where Wolford had said he was having trouble. The words "Level Ten" were what greeted them as they brought the cartoony car they were riding in to a sudden halt. A couple of paces away from where they had stopped was the first portions of a rickety boardwalk, with a series of boats floating upon the surface of the monochrome water.

"This is it, guys," Wolford said. "This is what I can't get passed for the life of me."

"Well," Fangmeyer replied, "there's three of us this time, so you've got a better chance of doin' so."

The canid nodded. "Yeah, let's hope so."

They all got out of the car and started to make their way onto the boardwalk. They could feel how old the boards were that were keeping them above the water. Not much happened for awhile as they continued onward. There wasn't any obstacles of any sort appeared out in front of them. But Wolford, who had experienced this level several times before, knew that the false sense of tranquility it gave off wasn't going to remain much longer.

As they made a turn and walked over to another portion of the open boarddocks, almost as if it were on cue, things suddenly started to change. They all started to hear the sounds of menacing grunts emerging from their left, coming from several mammals in that direction. Emerging from large, nearby ship and onto the dock was a group of plump sailors, their appearance being enough to tell anyone that they were the villains of the level.

The heavy-looking foe that was in front of the group had black fur and was dressed in grayish overalls. The hat he wore upon his head didn't look one at all, but rather like a smokestack that could be seen on a steamboat. His large paws were clenched into fists as he eyed Wolford and the others up.

He grunted before unexpectedly running up to the timber wolf and shoving him to the wooden platform. He then back up as he laughed heartily to himself.

Wolford, meanwhile, coughed and brushed the cloud of smoke away from his face. Courtesy of his avatar's cartoon form, a circle of tiny twittering birds orbited his head, and he brushed those away as well.

Clawhauser approached him and hoisted back up from off of the ground. "You okay?" he asked.

"I'm fine," the canid answered. "That happens every time I encounter that guy. You'd think after the first time I'd be ready for it, but I always forget about it."

Fangmeyer, who was right behind them, searched through his avatar's inventory and selected a glowing sword, which appeared in his grip within a flash. "Don't worry," he said. "We're gonna get passed them."

* * *

_**Some Time Later...**_

Surely enough, they did succeed in getting passed the level that had been the considerable stumbling block. Even though it was difficult at times in the process, they completed it and were all feeling pleased.

The next three levels increased in the number of foes that they consisted of, but they got passed them with their combined skill. Now, however, they were in what appeared to be a safe zone, at least for the time being.

The three were now located on the outskirts of an area that looked like a small town, looking around and figuring out where to go. Clawhauser proceeded to stroll over some spaces away to the right as Wolford and Fangmeyer paused and gazed around at the surroundings.

After a moment of silence between the two of them, the tiger saw something in the distant that caught his eyes. He tapped Wolford's shoulder to get his attention and then pointed over to an object sticking out from the ground.

"You see that?" he asked.

The canid was still for a moment before nodding with confirmation. "Yeah, what is that?"

"I haven't got a clue what it is," Fangemeyer replied. "But maybe we should check it out."

The wolf and tiger both ran up to what they had both spotted, up until they were close enough to see what it was. Upon further observation, they both saw that it looked like it was a paintball gun.

His curiosity now piqued, Fangmeyer stepped towards it and picked it up. He got a careful hold of it, and also noticed that it happened to have a splash of the color green inside its dispenser. He aimed it an empty space where a patch of grass was and pulled the trigger. A paintball fired from it, traveling against the scenery and landing square onto the grass, transforming it from gray to green.

"Wow, that's pretty neat," Wolford remarked upon seeing the function of what they had discovered. "Wonder what it's doin' out here."

"Guys!" they both heard Clawhauser call out.

Fangmeyer turned his head to see the cheetah running up to where he was standing. "What is it, Benjamin?" he asked.

The cheetah replied, "I found something and I think you oughta see it."

Dropping the item they had just found back where they first saw it, the tiger followed Clawhauser as he lead him and Wolford over to the location of what _he_ had discovered. After a good bit of walking, the town views became smaller and they approached the cheetah had encountered.

In the middle of the expanse he had lead them to what looked like a picket sign that was laying flat on the ground. "_Venture no further then necessary,_" it read, with a star symbol underneath it. This strange message caused confusion amongst the three.

Wolford took a few steps up to where the sign laid, proceeding to hold out a paw and pick it up. As he went to lay it on its surface, the words of it were replaced with mottled shapes, followed by a series of zeroes and ones. A sudden hissing sound arose from the spot the sign remained, and the canid let out a yelp and back up.

"What the heck is that thing?" he said in shock.

"I think it's trying to tell us that we're closer to what we're looking for than we think," Clawhauser replied. "And that symbol of the star you just saw on it I ended up seeing on that tree over there in the distance."

Fangmeyer looked away from the wolf and cheetah and over to a large oak tree that he assumed was what was being spoken of. Just like Benjamin had said, there appeared to be a star, similar to what was on the sign they encountered, etched deeply into the bark of the tree.

They walked over towards it, and what had occurred to the sign proceeded to happen to the etching on it. As Fangmeyer went to rest a paw on the tree's bark, he found it passing directly through it like it was some sort of optical illusion. He gasped and pulled his paw back out, a look of shock taking over him.

"What is this?" he muttered. "Some kind of glitch?"

"I'm not thinkin' it's a glitch," Wolford replied. "My guess is that this is actually leading us to a shortcut. Someone must have put this in here somewhere without thinking anyone was going to encounter it."

"If that's the case, then where's this shortcut taking us to?"

"Further into the game, I guess. The only way we can know for sure is if we take it."

Fangmeyer sighed, taking several baby steps up to the tree once again. He placed his paw through it again, and then his entire arm. From there he started to walk through it and disappear out of the vision of the wolf and cheetah.

Clawhauser was the next to attempt what the tiger had done. As he then started to disappear, Wolford walked forward and went to do the same thing.

* * *

The next thing they knew, they were standing directly in the middle of an enormous circus tent. However, unlike the rest of the things they had seen that were in black and white, everything had splashes of color to it.

The tent had a typical red and white striped pattern to it, and around them was nothing more than a large wardrobe, a set of walking balls, a couple of wooden crates, some balloons that were tied down to the ground by a weight, and some bales of hay.

The carnival music playing around them suddenly started to slow down and become distorted in tone, causing them to become creeped out. It was then replaced with the sounds of deep piano notes being played, sounding like the instrument was really out of tune.

Just then, a figure appeared inside of the tent, chuckling wildly. Standing before the three was a white coyote in vividly-colored clown makeup, wearing a red button nose. On the top of his head was a hat with a little white daisy on it, and he donned mismatched clothing covered in polka dots, as well as a pair of oversized shoes. The tail of the clown canid had red stripes near the tip of it, matching the makeup that was on his muzzle.

"Hiya, folks! It's time for the show!" the coyote cackled with a somewhat-villainous tone. A cream pie appeared in his left paw, which he then threw directly at Fangmeyer's outfit as he laughed louder than before.

"Is this one of the mini-bosses?" Wolford mumbled to himself. "Never seen this before."

"I don't know," Clawhauser said, overhearing him, "but that clown is a bit unsettling."

"Did I ever tell you that I absolutely despise clowns?" Fangmeyer chimed in, wiping the stain left by the pie that had been thrown at him. "This thing's probably gonna be in my dreams tonight."

The wolf of the group quickly pulled up his inventory, scrolling to the bottom of it and selecting the very last thing from the choices that were listed. What appeared in his paws not even a second later was a large cartoonish mallet, which looked like it had been made out of wood and was a lot heavier than it looked. He had seen this item as they breezing through an earlier level of the game, so he had grabbed and put in his inventory in the event he would need it, such as now.

He turned to the right and whacked the mallet in his grasp against a nearby crate. As he broke open the slatted case on his side, the word "Pow!" appeared above it in what looked like the exclamatory speech bubble one would see in a comic book.

Wolford looked at the tiger and cheetah to his side and then over at the villainous clown that was staring at them. "Let's do this," he muttered to himself as the announcement commencing the beginning of the level sounded.

* * *

_**Meanwhile...**_

"No fair! You got to pick the last time."

"Yeah, because you're always picking something boring."

"I do _not_!"

"You do too!"

"Finn, Eva," the mother of the two quarreling otter pups said, "don't fight. Why don't the two of you pick one together?"

The two siblings looked at their mother and then at each other. "Yes, Mom," they said in unison.

With their visors in their grasp and their pup-sized suits on tight, Eva and Finn Otterton walked over to the couch and took a seat next to each other. As they slipped the goggles over their eyes, their mother and father joined one another and did the same.

* * *

The location they visited last before logging off materialized before them. They now stood on the very edge of a waterfront dock that lead to a small construction, where a yellow cargo plane was located. Near the front entrance, Eva and Finn, could see three mammals standing there. Waving back to them in a friendly manner was a sloth bear in a flight cap, a petite-looking brown bear, and a lion in a mechanic's outfit. These three mammals belonged to a simulation of a show that the parents of the two otters had watched when they were younger.

"Okay," Finn said, "what do we do now? It better not be that princess one you chose that time, Eva."

Eva simply giggled. Holding out a webbed paw and moving it in a circular motion, she unveiled a display that showed all of the possible things they could do. Both her and her brother's OASIS gear had been created differently in comparison to the kind their parents had. Displays had been crafted with an easier sense of accessibility, and the only activities they could do within the virtual reality were all appropriate for young users like them. Anything that had intense content or too difficult was incapable of being accessed, making the experience completely safe, although they were unaware of the technical details regarding it all.

Finn studied all of the activity options listed on the display, mumbling to himself as his eyes scrolled down the potential selections. "Firefly field? No. Beach? No. Dance party? No." He went through some of the other objects before he stumbled upon one of his personal favorites. "Oooh," he remarked upon seeing it, "let's do the-"

"No," Eva interrupted, shaking her head. "We _always _do that one when you're in charge of picking."

"Yeah," Finn said, "but only because it's the _coolest _choice of them all!"

What the young pup had his eye on was an activity titled "Science Land." The world that immersed one in, as its title implied, consisted of scientifically-themed surroundings that made learning things in the subject ten times more fun than reading about it from a textbook. Just like his sister had said, he always chose it before any of the other options.

"Let's do something different," Eva said after a pause.

"O-kay," Finn trailed as he rolled his eyes.

His sister laughed under her breath before pointing to another activity on the last. "Oooh! Oooh! Let's do the underwater world. Can we, please?"

The underwater world she was pertaining to was another really fun one. When they played in that particular one, they got to freely swim around in an exquisite watery expanse. And on top of that, they could even choose to change themselves into a variety of different forms fitting with the world. Eva always chose to be a mermaid with a pink tail when they played there, so it naturally became a favorite of hers for making her imagination come to life.

"How about this one?" Finn said, pointing a paw to the activity label below the underwater selection. Looking over at her sister, he asked, "You wanna be pirates?"

"Sounds fun," Eva replied. "Let's do that one. I don't think we've ever done it before."

"Let's set sail then, matey!" her brother remarked playfully before pressing the selection from the list.

* * *

Several seconds after making their selection, they suddenly appeared in an entirely different location. In fact, as the details started to set in, they realized that they were on a ship, floating against a deep inlet of the sea. But looking around at their new surroundings, they observed that they were not just on any ordinary vessel. They were on a humongous pirate ship that looked it like it had jumped right out of an adventurous picture book.

"Woah," Eva and Finn remarked in unison before their jaws dropped.

The pirate ship they were on, although neither them were bothering to take any measurements, stretched a good hundred or so feet in length. The large craft's exterior, as well as some its interior, had been painted in a dark shade of red, with flecks of white and black in different places. Several other mammals, all of them members of a pirate crew, could be seen on the opposite side of the ship.

As they looked behind them, the two siblings saw the shapes of a settlement that was way out in the distance from where the vessel was at the moment. Turning their attention away from it and down to the water below, they saw that it was clear and picturesque, like the kind one would see in tropical paintings.

"Finn," Eva said, "forget what I said about you always picking stuff that's boring."

Her brother nodded his head. "Yeah, this is _awesome_!"

Looking away from the gulf and down at herself, Eva replied, "And we even _look _like we're part of a pirate crew!"

Her avatar's outfit had changed to attire that a lot more complimentary to the concept of the activity. Now she donned the uniform of the typical pirate, complete with several medallions and a faded sash. Her brother's outfit, meanwhile, consisted of a discolored collared shirt, pants that had torn off at the knee, as well as a pale-tinted bandana around his head.

Finn looked at what he was wearing and remarked, "Woah! Didn't even notice that until now. That's so cool!"

The two otter pups heard a yell coming from behind them, coming from one of the crew members. A short moment afterwards, a loud boom sounded in the other direction. The suddenness of it, along with its force, made them nearly fall backwards.

"What was that?" Eva said.

"Must have been a cannon they fired," Finn replied. Turning his head the other direction, he pointed to something he was seeing and added, "Eva, look!"

"What?"

"Out there! I think I see a piece of land."

What Finn was pertaining to was what looked like a small island, which Eva and him could see very faintly within their vision.

"Arrgh, maties!" came the call from a nearby tiger. "That'd be the hidin' place of the lost treasures we're searchin' for."

* * *

**_Meanwhile…_**

When creating their own personal space within the OASIS, it was typical for most mammals to give it a design based on what they enjoyed the most. Folks that considered themselves enthusiasts of classic cars and the like would deck theirs with purchasable merchandise that complimented the concept. Those who liked horror would typically give their space a more macabre atmosphere, or even make it look like a haunted mansion or estate from the cheesy classic films. The fanatics of superheroes and the like could be seen, without doubt, covering basically any available inch of their place with memorabilia.

The possibilities regarding how one could decorate their personal space were practically infinite. The OASIS had every style that one's heart could possibly desire. But despite all of those endless possibilities, Emmitt Otterton didn't decorate his place with a certain kind of theme in mind. If anything, his desired location for it to be set in was rather simplistic in comparison to what others had constructed.

Emmitt's space consisted mostly of bright, outdoor views, with a blue, cozy-looking house in the distance, neither too big nor too small. And within the large spacious area of land he had selected as the surroundings of his space, the largest flower garden any mammal could ever dream of could be seen. He had always wanted to plant a big garden for as long as he could remember, so it was basically natural for him to create one within the OASIS.

The otter had filled the area with a spacious variety of vibrant flowers that blossomed in the sunshine above his head. Lilacs, hyacinths, buttercups, daisies, and coneflowers were just a few of the perennials that encompassed him on either sides.

At the very moment, Emmitt was down on his knees as he tended to some of the plants that made up a certain portion of the virtual garden. Basically every square inch had been occupied by some sort of blossoming plant, but he had noticed a spot that he believed would be the perfect place for another flower to grow.

He pulled the inventory that displayed all of the supplies and other outdoor decorations that he could use his credits on. Flowering plants of all different shapes, colors, and sizes greeted him as his eyes quickly browsed through the list.

Emmitt muttered to himself, "Let's plant some… geraniums. Those would probably look good over here."

He selected the red geraniums, and they appeared in a small pot on his side. He then dug a hole within the flower beds in front of him, transferring the flowers he had just acquired in the spot he wanted to place them in.

As he patted the dirt around them, he started to hear the sound of paws stepped against the grass behind him. Looking away from the garden and over at the land behind him, he saw his wife, who had joined him in the space, standing there in a broad-brimmed hat.

"The garden looks beautiful as always," she said.

Emmitt smiled back at her. "Did you see I added a new plant?" he asked.

His wife looked over and noticed the plant within the garden. "Red geraniums. My favorite."

"The exact reason I decided to plant them."

The two of them remained where they were, gazing around at the vibrance of all of the different flowers in silence.

"Such tranquility," Emmitt observed. Looking back at his wife, he asked, "You want to head over to The Free-For-All? I'm sure the next event's beginning right now."

Mrs. Otterton laughed under her breath and nodded her head. "Definitely," she replied.

* * *

The sun was setting against the sky that had become tinted with a beautiful shade of crimson. And on the hilltop, where not a single soul stood, a light breeze blew fallen autumn leaves.

But this particular spot didn't remain unoccupied for long, as the two figures started to materialize in the very middle of it. As the two otters appeared on the hilltop, they looked down at what was on the bottom of the elevation within the land. Brick-built constructions could be seen in the distance, as well as a good number of different avatars wandering to and fro. Who they were saying were presumably other players, who had come for what was going to occur within the next few minutes.

What the "The Free-For-All" consisted of was basically what its name implied it was. A large of number of players congregated to a certain location, and what followed was all of them running around the area, collecting credits, searching for hidden objects and power-ups, and dodging opponents.

In the spirit of certain strategy games, the avatar of each mammal was given three lives, meaning that they would regenerate only that many times if they were knocked out. And there was a damage indicator that displayed a percentage from time to time; the higher the number was, the more a player was sensitive to damage. Anything and everything could happen, and attempting to make predictions of what would happen next was practically impossible. But they would be seeing for themselves what awaited them this time pretty soon, as the actual event was going to be starting within the matter of a few minutes. But until that moment came about, the two otters silently stood on the hill in anticipation.

Upon entering the territory of The Free-For-All, the appearance of their avatars had undergone a bit of a transformation. Mrs. Otterton now donned a dirndl consisting of purple and pink, and now wielded a frying pan in her paws. Meanwhile, Emmitt's fur was now green like a plant, and had little sproutlings in certain patches of it.

The two of them weren't exactly the kind that came to the OASIS for every crazily adventurous thing it offered, nor did they care about the search that practically everyone had been obsessing about. But sometimes it didn't hurt to do something along the lines of mindless fun. And that was why they decided to attend The Free-For-All. It provided a challenge while still being a lot of fun in the process.

"You ready?" Emmitt asked.

"Oh, yeah. Ready," his wife responded, just in time for the commencement of the countdown.

* * *

**_Some time later, elsewhere in the Free-For-All…_**

The event had been in full swing for the last five minutes or so, and things were pretty interesting. In that little bit of time that had passed, the three lives given had already been used by several mammals, and they had already been eliminated from what was happening. This wasn't a common occurrence by any means, as a majority of players that attended this had the stealthiness—a necessity in something like this—to avoid what was oncoming for a lot longer. Either someone here with a godly amount of expertise, bent on eliminating some of the competition in a quick manner, or there was just that many more present that were inexperienced in this kind of thing.

After having found themselves a spot where no one really was running near, the group of four spoke to one another in quiet voices. The mammals that the team consisted of were a lion in grey robes and a blue wizard's hat, a wolf in a white chiton and a pair of angel wings, a polar bear in a blue and black ninja uniform, and a female cheetah in basic attire.

They remained close as they started to strategize about what to do next. Having a well-thought-out game plan, without a doubt, was essential in events like this, and could lead mammals into either victory or defeat depending on good the actions are. But it was only a matter of time before the spot they were hiding from those remaining was found, so they to be quick in devising their strategy.

"Okay, I got a plan," the cheetah of the team said to the others. She pointed a paw to the white wolf to her right. "Grizzoli, you're gonna stay in the air for as long as possible and scan what's going on."

The canid in the chiton nodded his head, the angel wings that belonged to his avatar flapping back and forth. "Understood," he replied.

"Good," the slender, spotted feline said back. She pointed towards the lion as she continued on with informing the team about the plan. "Delgato, you use your staff to defend yourself if anyone gets too close." She then looked over at the polar bear and asked him, "Snarlov, is that uniform you purchased equipped with the freezing power?" When she was speaking to nodded his head, she continued, "Well your job is to use it to freeze those who try to eliminate you. But doing that'll probably give us away easily, so I'd advise only using that when it's an absolute necessity."

Delgato raised his paw like a kit in a classroom. "So what will you be doing, Kii?" he inquired out of curiosity.

The cheetah answered, "I'll be in charge collecting any loose credits or hidden objects. And in order to find said hidden objects within the perimeter, I believe that we should all head towards the-"

Her words, however, were cut short at the sound of a loud yell. Looking above her, she noticed that the noise was coming from a rhino in red plaid clothing with broken-looking overalls, who was currently hovering in the air. Following that was the sudden sound of trumpeting, and she saw that an elephant was only a short distance away from where the rhino was.

The two ungulates both started to fall down from where they were in air. As soon as they both reached the ground, the force of their landing created a sensation that resembled the beginning of an earthquake.

This caused Kii and the three mammals behind here tumble down in a clumsy manner. They all quickly got themselves back up, though, and into a mode of defense.

"That was _totally_ unexpected," Kii muttered to herself. Looking back at the others, she compelled, "You guys go and I'll meet back up with you."

The three nodded understandingly before splitting up and sprinting towards a portion of the location that had more occupants. Kii, meanwhile, quickly pulled up one of the power-ups she had gotten her paws at the very beginning of things. The moment she activated it, her figure became completely invisible. This allowed her to remain indiscernible to the rhino and elephant that had caught her and the other off guard.

As the two ungulates looked around for where she was running to, the cheetah stormed off as fast her paws could carry her. She needed to get over to where the rest of the action was currently taking place, and where the others were.

Just as she was approaching where she needed to be, the power-up she had activated was starting to go away. Within the next few seconds or so, she would become visible to everyone else that was within the perimeter.

Once she had gotten back into the heart of the event, she was notified that the power-up had completely went away. As she became detectable once again, she approached a set of small barrels that had been stacked into a pyramid.

Kii managed to jump high enough to maneuver herself over them, flipping in the air as she did so. Once she landed on the ground, she slid herself towards a pile of coins that laid astray and picked them up.

She rolled on the ground to where another stack of barrels was located, keeping herself hidden behind them. She stealthily peeked around the left corner, just enough to see what was happening without being spotted by the naked eye.

In the corner of her vision, she saw Snarlov. The polar bear was near a closed barn-looking construction, and appeared to be cornered by a raccoon in an orange battle suit. As the procyon pointed a blaster towards him, he found himself getting hit with something. Not with the bear's freezing power, but with a ball of a sparkly glitter that came from someone undetectable.

Kii watched as the raccoon stumbled backwards, looking around for who had done that as he continued to grip onto his blaster. The one who hit him with the glitter made herself present, and turned to be a tanuki in attire that was also glittery from head to toe. She quickly ran away from the area, and Snarlov used his avatar's power to make the raccoon become frozen in place.

As the polar bear ran forward, Kii emerged from behind where she had been hiding and teamed up with him.

"Where's Delgato and Grizzoli?" she asked.

Snarlov shook his head with uncertainty. "I don't know," he replied. "They went ahead of here, but I'm not sure where those two could-"

Right then and there, Kii's ears were greeted with the sounds of a familiar voice calling for help. Not even a second later, she exclaimed, "I hear Delgato! He needs help!"

The cheetah took off running, and the polar bear did his best to keep up with her as she a good distance ahead of him. They soon approached a flat piece of land where no one could be seen, at least for the current moment. The closer they got, the more audible the lion's call became.

"Delgato!" Kii cried.

Snarlov tapped a claw against her shoulder. He pointed to something he was seeing not too far away in the sky. "I think that over there might be causing some trouble."

Along with the polar bear, Kii's jaw proceeded to drop at what they had spotted. In a spot within the expanse of sky, not too far away from where they both stood, was a humongous spaceship that looked like it was built of a large mass of pixels. A tractor beam descended from it, radiating an ear-piercing noise as it did so. Within the field of that beam was none other than the lion who had been calling out for help.

"You wait here," the cheetah commanded. "I'll go help Delgato."

With that she darted towards where the ship was located, seeing that Grizzoli was nearby and also trying to help. The wolf was several feet in the air, courtesy of his avatar's angel wings, and was trying to strike the ship with the two short swords in his paws. But his efforts proved to be no use, as it didn't make the situation any better.

Kii cried out, "Stop! That's not gonna work. We need to strike it down with something more powerful!"

Grizzoli flew away from the ship that had captured Delgato in its radiating beam, maneuvering himself over to where the cheetah stood and landing to the right of her. "What do we do now?" he asked. "If that thing flies away with him, it'll reduce one of his three lives."

"Like I said," she replied. "We take it down something powerful." Kii pulled up her inventory and selected a uniform from it labeled '_Cyborg Armor_.' "Been wanting to try this out for awhile now," she muttered to herself. "Time to see what this does."

Upon her activating what she had chosen, her appearance started to change. Starting at her paws and heading up to her legs and torso, her body became encased in armor that matched her fur color, and a helmet that had several wires on the back of it.

"Woah," Kii muttered to herself before breaking into yet another sprint.

As soon as she got close to what she was trying to take down, she activated the "Energy Blast" that came with the armor she had on. She then lifted her arm up and pointed it directly at the large ship, just as a thick beam of orangish-yellow energy protruded from a projector on her armor.

Once what she had fired came into contact with it, the beam descending from the object in the sky suddenly went away. This sent Delgato falling towards the land, but luckily he managed to prevent himself from hitting the ground to hard.

Kii deactivated her armor, and her normal self became visible once again. She then ran up to the lion she had just rescued, who looked around with a bit of confusion. As she did so, the ship then flew off to somewhere further in the distance.

"What the-" Delgato started to mutter. "What was that thing? Did someone place it there on purpose?"

"No," Kii replied, "I believe that's an obstacle that belongs to The Free-For-All itself."

A mass of ice started to form in a circular shape on the land near them, and from it emerged Snarlov, who had presumably teleported his avatar to where they were standing. "Is he okay?" he asked out of concern.

"Yep," Delgato replied with a nod of his head. "All good here."

"That's good," the polar bear breathed before turning his head to the side, spotting something that caught his eye. "What's that gray object over there?" he asked before running over towards it.

Kii turned her head to see what he was talking about, widening her eyes upon realizing what it was. Holding a paw out in front of her, she called out, "Snarlov, don't touch that! That's a-"

But he already walked close enough to it before she could explain what it was. Snarlov slowly turned himself towards the spotted feline who had spoken to him. He proceeded to run back to where she stood, but his movements, although they looked like he was running, looked like he was going much slower. It was as if he was darting forward in slow motion.

"Why am I moving like a sloth?" he asked, his voice at its regular speed in comparison to the rest of his body's movements.

"That's what I was trying to warn you about," Kii said back. "That was a Speed Decreaser that you just touched."

"That stands to reason," the polar bear replied, right before the effects of what he had went by wore off.

Not even a few seconds later, he found himself able to run at a normal speed again. Just in time for the team, now reassembled, to head back into the action.

* * *

_**Elsewhere in the OASIS...**_

After having directed themselves through the expansive obstacle course, Jack and Skye both emerged from the vehicles they had been riding and stood with the others that also made it through the finish line. There had several more mammals when everything had started, but the number of remaining competitors in what they had just participated in gradually decreased.

The finish line stood near a body of water, which continuously splashed against the nighttime scenery of where the were now. But within the sounds fo the water Jack heard something, and it sounded like the softest voice.

"Skye?" the buck asked. "Do you hear something?"

"What? The sound of the water?" Skye asked back, now looking over at him.

Jack shook his head. "No," he answered. "Something a lot more hushed. I don't know, though; it could've just been my-"

The sound he had heard greeted his ears again, and he saw that Skye was also looking around like she had heard something as well.

The arctic vixen inquired, "Did you hear, like, someone murmuring something?"

The jackrabbit nodded. "Yeah, I did. But where's it coming from?"

"I don't know," Skye replied, scanning her surroundings for the source of what they were both hearing.

The vulpine then noticed a faint blue light shimmering against the dark, located in the far right corner of her vision. It almost resembled a will-o'-the-wisp, a mythological thing that she remembered hearing about once. Gesturing for the buck to her side to come forward, she said, "Follow me. I know what's making that sound."

Jack followed her footsteps as they followed the blue circle of light near them. It flickered as it started to travel further away from them, like it wanted them to catch it but was making it hard to.

It eventually stopped moving further away from them, and the two of them slowly approached as ti stopped near some bushes. Jack looked at it with curiosity, holding out a finger to touch it. Upon doing so, the light expanded into a rectangular shape.

Several seconds later, words started to appear above him and the vixen, also in the same color as the light.

_To find what you seek, _they read,_ you must look in not what you now consider the future. You must look in what the innovators of the past considered the future, which is what you would now call the present._

"I'm so lost," Jack said, looking over at Skye again.

The arctic vixen replied, "I'm pretty sure it's saying we should look at something that was older but was imagining what the future would look like. You know, like an old movie or something."

"So, something like Yak to the Future?" the striped rabbit asked. "Or that one where the two teens travel through time in the phone booth?"

"Perhaps," Skye answered with a nod of her head. "But it's also a possibility the clue's talking about one that's a lot more dated than those films. Maybe something from _way _back."

"Where do you think we should go to look for something like that?"

"I think I might know where we could start. There's a museum within the OASIS called 'Motion Picture Evolution.' It might be somewhere in there."

"Good idea," Jack said with a smile. "Let's search there and see if we come across anything that could decipher the clue."


End file.
